Is playing Odette really as hard on the arms as people say it is? I know holding them out behind you is kind of wierd, but I've never had too much of a problem with a "Swan Lake arabesque" (at least for a few seconds).

So, if you've played Odette before can you verify this information? Just a little question I've had buried in the back of my mind...

I never danced the role of Odette, but I have been a swan. The difficulty ("hard on the arms") isn't solely in using the arms. Port de bras initiates from the back. This from Gretchen Ward Warren's Classical Ballet Technique: "As the arms move from position to position, never allow the bones in the front of the shoulders to move forward or up. The integrity of the upper back position must be constantly maintained and isolated from any movement of the arms." Here she is speaking of port de bras in general. Swan Lake "arms" with their sometimes exaggerated positions and stretch make this even more difficult to achieve. And those shoulders have to stay down when the arms are reaching back in that glorious bird wing position.

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